Gov't to establish petroleum hub in Western region

Energy Minister Peter Amewu says government has rolled out plans to establish a petroleum hub in the Western part of the country.

He says the purpose of the hub a is “to house major infrastructure for refining and processing, discharge, storage, distribution, transportation and trading of petroleum products”.

Speaking at the Meet-The-Press-Series in Accra on Tuesday, he said this development will position the country as a pivot for refined petroleum products in the West African sub-region and the world at large in the medium to long term.

Mr. Amewu also indicated that “the establishment of a petroleum hub is one of the government’s strategic anchor initiatives that would serve as a new pillar of growth in the Ghanaian economy.”

The Minister also announced government will soon amend the country’s petroleum laws to deepen the promotion of local content in the industry.

He said the Petroleum Commission has been tasked to work toward amending the Petroleum (Local Content and Local Participation) Regulations 2013 (L.I 2204).

He says the amendment in parliament will make the law more robust to counter and meet current industry challenges. He said the planned amendments will “also deepen the promotion of indigenous Ghanaian participation and in-country spend in the sector.”

Mr. Amewu also disclosed government will in 2019 work with other key stakeholders in the petroleum upstream sector to develop a number of other policies for the benefit of the industry.

He indicated that key among the policies is the National Technology Transfer Policy and Sustainability and Social Inclusion Policy.